Travel Archives

I found out today that starting Oct. 21, San Franciscans will be required to have 3 bins: garbage, recycling ... and compost.

Yes, you read that right. Residents will have to throw their food scraps into the compost bin or face a fine.

Yet Chicago ranks No. 1 in green--buildings, at least. A good start, Mayor Daley, but why don't we start with the simple stuff first?

Need some help? Here are 4 cities that Chicago could learn from.

Me at Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, Colo. Pretty impressive, huh?

I'm on vacation! Woo! And where better to spend it than in Colorado with my best friend?

Despite having been here several times, it never ceases to amaze me what a great job the state, and many of the cities, do to make it environmentally friendly.

So, here are 5 ways Colorado does green:

While in Door County, Wis., this past weekend to watch a half Ironman triathlon, I had the pleasure of staying in a hotel with recycling bins.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009 -- 8:44 p.m.

One of the first things I saw when I landed in Portland was an awesome toilet. Yes, this sounds weird. But really, it was awesome. First, I noticed the sign explaining how to use it--enough to catch my eye, cuz, well, who doesn't know how to flush a toilet? But thank goodness for the instructions because I might have used more water than necessary!

Up was for "liquid waste"; down for solid waste. And depending which you choose, different amounts of water are used to flush it away.

Wow.

Then there were the recycling bins everywhere--not just in the airport, as seems to be the case in Chicago. Note to Mayor Daley: Putting bins and signs that say "Chicago recycles" doesn't count if you don't expand that to the city outside of the airport.

I even saw COMPOST BINS! At a Saturday Market in Eugene (farmers and arts/crafts market in one), bins were provided for recycling, compostable waste and trash. And many vendors at the market used compostable products.

Bicycles were all over the road--and their space was actually (gasp!) respected. A few lanes even marked territory in FRONT of the cars at stop lights. I even saw a few bikes on highways, as well as an insane number of bike lanes and paths.

Not one of my leftovers boxes were made of Styrofoam--only biodegradable materials or paper. Many of the restaurants I visited even boasted compost piles, local, seasonable ingredients and recycled materials in the building.

What else? Oh! My marathon handed out goodie bags in reusable bags instead of the plastic ones. And they encouraged car pooling to the event through PickupPal, among other things.

And, of course, it was one of the greenest places I've ever seen--in terms of scenery!

There's so much more than I can possibly remember or communicate here. So I recommend going and checking it out for yourself if you're ever planning a trip.

Keep your eyes peeled for some pictures coming soon!

Thursday, April 30, 2009 -- 4:02 p.m.

I'm off to Oregon, where I'm running a marathon (named one of the greenest by Runner's World magazine!) and taking a little vacation. But I'm sure I'll see lots of fun things you guys will want to read about, so look for updates next week!

Tuesday, September 9, 2008 -- 1:08 p.m.

I'm back from Colorado! It's always sad to be done with vacation, but it's nice to be home again.

Here's one of my favorite things from my trip ... It was in the bathroom of a restaurant in Boulder:

Thursday, September 4, 2008 -- 9:45 p.m.

My favorite vacations are ones that are well balanced--lots of relaxing combined with lots of activity. And, so far, this one has been perfect!

I hiked in hail/rain, dipped my feet in a beautiful river, sat and read a book, ran--and I even saw some elk outside the kitchen window!

You won't catch me climbing any mountains or anything, but it doesn't take much to appreciated nature out here in Colorado. The mountains (from down below), the wildlife, even the clouds, are enough to make anyone want to preserve them forever.

So, it makes sense why people out here take their duties toward the environment so seriously: They see natural beauty everywhere--and they don't want to lose it because of something as silly as not taking care of it properly.

Chicagoans don't have mountains to serve as a reminder, but surely the lake, or something else, can stand in their place.

Sunday, August 31, 2008 -- 6:43 a.m. (Denver time)

The sun wasn't even up yet when I started writing this, but I'm wide awake after already sleeping for about 10 hours. I love vacation!

I'm in Denver, post-DNC, visiting friends and lots of beautiful mountains. What I love about this place is the fact that you can really escape the "greenness" of it because it's such an integral part of the city.

At the airport, signs tout the city's eco-friendly measures, the recycling bins are separated (paper in one, plastic and glass in the other), and the garbage can is smaller than either of them. About 7 1/2 acres at the entrance of the airport are covered with a solar energy system and will generate about 6 million kWh of energy this year, according to Energy Current. (Though I do have to point out that this system was dedicated on Aug. 19, just before the start of the Democratic National Convention.

You can even calculate your travel carbon tool, which appears on the front page of denver.org. The emissions associated with my travel? .5706 metric tons. And I plan on offsetting my trip by buying Canary Tags worth $11.41 at the city of Aspen's Web site, which invests the money in various carbon offset projects.

Even the massage I treated myself to was at a spa that touted its green initiatives. And while they don't use solar panels, have a graywater system, or any other major eco-friendly devices, they do acknowledge the little things they are doing to help--which I can certainly appreciate!

And that's just the first day!
 

Monday, June 23, 2008 -- 5:40 p.m.

This post is dedicated to my best friend Sarah, who got married this weekend. She's actually the person that first introduced me to the green way of life--after having to explain to me several times what went in which blue bag.

Congrats, Sarah and Ken!

And in case these, or any, newlyweds out there need a few ideas for a green honeymoon, the New York Times had a great article just yesterday that's right up your alley.

Check out "Love, Honor, Leave No Carbon Footprint" here.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008 -- 7:08 p.m.

I'm back! I spend the past few days in Florida at the "happiest place on Earth": Disney World! And while it was great to get away, I'm glad to be back home, where I don't have to eat fast food and can recycle with relative ease.

I never thought ease and recycling in Chicago were words I would put together.

For me, vacations are not very recycling-friendly, as hard as I try. It all started out well: We carried out own water bottles and refilled them at water fountains around the park. It didn't go much farther than that, though.

Being an eco-friendly vacationer isn't an easy thing--especially when you're traveling with people who aren't as conscious as you. Not that my family didn't try. They agreed to reuse the baggies in which we carried our sandwiches. We even had a recycling collection at our hotel--until I think it accidentally got thrown out. The sheets and towels didn't get changed during our stay, by policy of the hotel (a policy I think more driven by staffing and costs than eco-friendliness).

We also drove to Disney each day, which could have been avoided by taking the hotel's early shuttle. But I wasn't willing to get up at 7 a.m. on my vacation and neither was anyone else.

And Disney itself doesn't make being green easy either. There were a few recycling bins around the park, but only for glass and plastic. Paper recycling would make sense, considering the number of pamphlets and maps that abound.

And then there's the food. We did a pretty good job of bringing the majority of our meals and snacks, but ice cream is a tempting treat when it's 95 degrees and sunny out. So I don't at all feel guilty about giving in--several times--to various cold desserts.

The one thing that baffled all of us was the amount of electricity the park must use on a daily basis to power all the lights, rides, air conditioning and special effects. They must have one hell of a power bill each month.

The moral of the story? I should learn to improve my vacation eco-friendliness by taking trips as often as possible. And if you have any tips, send 'em over!